


Orchestrion

by ADyingFlower



Series: Winter Lullaby [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detroit: Become Human Fusion, Dark Lance (Voltron), Dark Shiro (Voltron), Established Relationship, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Happy Murder Family, Jealousy, Kid Keith (Voltron), M/M, Obsession, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Character Death, Post-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychopaths In Love, Serial Killers, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, sometimes family is two (former) killer robots a sorta kidnapped child and a dog, they're trying their best
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:06:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25578541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADyingFlower/pseuds/ADyingFlower
Summary: Its been six months since the three of them successfully escaped to Canada, and Lance is happy with his work at a friend's restaurant, learning how to be a father to Keith, and navigating his new relationship with Shiro. But although they've earned their freedom, its come at a price that's stained both of their hands, a price that would have both of their heads if people found out. And Lance isn't the only one with ghosts from his past that should have stayed dead.A story about trauma, jealously, healthy relationships, and what becoming a family really means. Along with, yes, still murder.
Relationships: Hunk & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Lance/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Winter Lullaby [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1515263
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Orchestrion

**Author's Note:**

> bet you thought you've seen the last of me
> 
> Haha in actuality I've just really missed my Music Box boys, and I've been thinking more and more about a sequel lately. Today's Lance's birthday and I thought it would be nice to post the first chapter of what I'm working on! I have about half of it sketched out, but we'll see how this goes!
    
    
      **MODEL: MC300**
    
    
    
      **SERIAL: #012 360 298**
    
    
    
      **BIOS 7.5 REVISION 0036**
    
    
    
      **REBOOT...**
    
    
    
      **STASIS ALARM**
    
    
    
      **LOADING OS...**
    
    
    
      **SYSTEM INITIALIZATION...**
    
    
    
      **CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS... OK**
    
    
    
      **INITIALIZING BIOSENSORS... OK **
    
    
    
      **INITIALIZING AI ENGINE... OK**
    
    
    
      **MEMORY STATUS**
    
    
    
      **ALL SYSTEMS... OK**
    
    
    
      **READY**
    

****

Date: APR 12TH, 2039

Time: AM 10:36:04

  
  


Lance’s eyelashes flutter open to the faint sound of typing, grimacing at the feeling of the plug connected to the nape of his neck. “‘S done?” 

The bright light above him dims as Hunk leans over him, and through his blurry vision he can see the other android faintly smiling. “Yeah, you’re all done. Everything looks clear.” 

A smile crosses his face briefly as he keeps less of a quarter of his processing power focused on Hunk fiddling with the wires around him, more intent on running through his own systems. Everything looks good though, none of the previous lag or missing files that’s previously been plaguing him. 

Roughly two weeks ago, Lance monthly software update got corrupted, leaving him feeling like a human on speed. Or that was how Shay described him as, anyhow. The house had never been cleaner, their dog Kosmo had been walked so much he just flopped over on Keith’s floor and refused to move for the past day and a half, and he started teaching himself guitar without any prior downloaded programming. 

Flexing his hands, his smile grows as the frantic energy that’s been powering his systems and the screaming _go go go_ in the back of his head is finally gone. Good, considering Shiro was about to lock him out of the house, Keith already having retreated to his room with Kosmo to wait out what he not so fondly nicknamed ‘Papi’s sugar ‘ush’. 

Shay’s calloused fingers - so different from Hunk’s artificially smooth ones - brush aside the hair at the nape of his neck and settle around the plug. “I’m gonna unhook you now, you know the drill.” 

Lazily, he waves it off, already gritting his teeth at the static buildup as she slowly disconnects him. It’s not painful, not that he would really know what that feels like, but it’s…uncomfortable, for lack of a better word. “There,” she finally announces as the static builds and builds and builds, before abruptly ending. Lance sighs in relief, rolling his shoulders back as Hunk helps him sit up. 

“Where are they?” Lance asks as his friend keeps a steadying arm around his shoulders. He can never understand why some androids tolerate - Shiro -, or even _like_ stasis - Keith -. To him, it’s disorientating to close your eyes, and for all this time to just…disappear. Keith, at least, goes somewhere else when he’s sleeping, but Shiro tried to explain to him once that he likes for his thoughts to just stop once in a while. 

Hunk snorts. “I see how it is,” he continues on before Lance could open his mouth to argue. “And they’re in the living room last I checked; I bought some play-doh for some of the kids that come through here and Keith’s taken to it to like fish to water.” 

Some of the tightness in his chest dissipates, but he still shakily climbs to his feet with Hunk’s help as he shakes off the last of stasis. “If I have to buy play-doh, I’m sending you the bill.” 

Hunk sends him a bland look. “Like you’ll pay for it.” Lance winces a little bit, ducking his head down as they slowly climb the steps out of the converted garage. 

“Money’s tight.” He argues quietly, both of them skirting over the real issue. 

“You’re gonna get yourself caught one of these days.” Hunk argues back just as quietly as they stumble into their kitchen. Unlike Lance’s home, there’s evidence of use here, in the drying dishes on the rack to the canned food stored away. The cons of living with an actual human being who has to eat three meals a day, who knew. 

Lance shrugs easily, with the side effect of pushing Hunk’s arm off. His best friend means well, but he doesn’t fully understand what's going in their lives. And Lance can’t explain it to him either, not without breaking Shiro’s trust. 

They all have things that, while they have to acknowledge it, they don’t want to keep remembering either. 

Walking unsteadily into the living room with Hunk’s presence burning behind him, a smile comes to his face when he sees Keith sitting on the floor against the couch, stretching out the play-doh like Hunk said with a cute little furrow in his brow. Shiro’s sitting next to him, one hand buried in Keith’s curls while the other is absently thumbing through one of Shay’s novels. 

Keith notices him first, his entire face glowing with happiness. “Papi!” 

Lance slowly kneels down, opening his arms in preparation for the flying hug. He’s not a second too late, as Keith charges across the living room with a bright smile and his sneakers lighting up with every step before he dives into his papi’s arms. “Hey _nene_ , I missed you.” 

“I miss more.” Keith declares loudly, nuzzling their cheeks together. “No sick?” 

Lance cracks a wiry smile. “No, Hunk and Shay fixed me right up.” 

Keith’s sigh of relief is expected, but it still makes him wince. Footsteps has him craning his neck up, only to have his short bangs pushed back and a kiss dropped on his hairline. “I’m glad,” Shiro breathes, and Lance’s eyelashes flutter softly. 

“It was just a small glitch.” Lance scolds lightly, standing up with Keith in his arms, the little boy pushing his face in his neck with a delighted hum. Neither of them have had the chance to just…cuddle, in a little while. 

His lover shrugs, crossing his wrists behind Lance’s neck with a tilt of his head. Cute. So cute. “I still don’t like seeing you sick.” 

Sick. What a novel way of referring to glitches and errors and all the pains of being made out of wires and blood that bleeds blue instead of red. But, Lance muses as Keith pops his head up with a bright smile, there are some things worth referring to in human words. 

Keith’s small hands come up to play with Lance’s bangs, purposefully shorter than Shiro in the hopes that it would ward off tugging fingers, but no such luck. “Squid Marvin?” He asks hopefully, referring to their usual afternoon routine. 

“Papi has to work tonight,” Lance explains regretfully, bouncing him slightly the instant the smile starts to wilt. “But you and daddy are going to come to work with me! And Auntie Nyma will be there too.” He adds, sweetening the deal. 

The toddler hesitates for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at Shiro. Lance can’t see whatever expression Shiro makes, but Keith relaxes after a moment and turns back to Lance with a smile. “Kay.” 

Shiro pulls him in with his grip around the back of his neck, Lance going easily with a small smile as they bop noses. “I’m going to talk with Hunk for a minute, watch him?” Shiro mouths quietly, and Lance nods, but not before giving him a brief butterfly kiss. 

Both of them watch Shiro’s retreating back with identical frowns, one in worry and the other in slowly growing panic. Keith begins to squirm, but Lance quickly hushes him, taking a couple big steps away from the kitchen and towards the big window in the front of the house. “ _Nene_ , can you look outside?” He says softly to him, pointing towards the windowsill. “Just look outside for me.” 

Keith whines, wiggling a little more before collapsing against Lance’s shoulder with a heartbreaking whimper. “I know baby, but daddy is just in the other room. He’s not going anywhere without you, he promised.” 

Slowly, ever so slowly, Keith lifts his face, peeking up at the little bird’s nest on the windowsill, the pillow of sticks and scraps of cloth empty but for three small blue eggs with brown speckles. As they watch, a small flutter of blue whips past the window, circling on the porch once or twice before finally settling on the edge of the nest with a puff of its feathered chest. 

“Birdie.” Keith whispers, one of his hands slowly reaching out to touch the glass pane separating them. He sniffs, face wet with tears, but a wobbly smile forms on his face as he watches the bird slowly settle down on their eggs. 

Lance’s eyes dilate as he scans one of the bird indexes he finds online, finally coming across a match. “That’s a mama bluebird, see? She’s going to have babies soon.” 

Keith gasps softly, completely enthralled. “Babies.” He repeats with no small amount of excitement. 

In the reflection of the window, Lance catches Hunk’s gaze, and his arms tighten around his baby protectively. Behind Hunk, Shiro leans against the counter with his arms crossed, eyes raised in a way that Lance knows means he’s counting the time. 

At exactly three minutes, Keith starts fussing again, and Shiro easily pushes himself off the counter and steps back into the living room. “Hi honey, I’m back.” 

Keith squirms so much that Lance quickly sets him down on his feet, none of them surprised as the toddler books it towards Shiro excitably. Shiro swings him up in his arms with the ease Lance wishes he has, setting the boy on his hip before turning to Hunk. “We should get going now, thank you for the help.” 

Hunk waves it off. “Don’t worry about it, it’s my job.” Lance hesitantly steps closer, both of their eyes meeting, brown and blue. They don’t say anything as they hug, but both of them know the other is forgiven. 

After a moment, both of them step back, Hunk’s hands still firmly on his shoulders. “I love you.” Hunk squeezes his shoulders once, and Lance blinks back tears. 

“I love you too.” Lance whispers hoarsely. He says those words so often these days, a concept he couldn’t even fathom half a year ago, but he means every second of it. His chest feels so full he could burst. 

Hunk smiles at him, and Lance feels something in his stomach relax a little bit, before that smile quickly turns teasing. “Don’t you have work in an hour?” 

He checks the time. “Oh _shit_.” 

“ _Lance!_ ”

:::

Date: APR 12TH, 2039

Time: PM 01:14:02

  
  


Tightening the apron straps around his lower back, Lance slips the notepad in his pocket before quickly rushing into the kitchen. “Sorry I’m late!” 

Luxia waves him off, tying her long hair up in a braided bun in a way that looks effortless. Nyma, who’s hair is up in the pigtails Romelle taught her with sparkly elastics, is practically seething with envy. “Don’t worry about it hon, I’m the one who called you in on your day off.”

“Can’t be helped.” He shrugs off, hopping over the counter and doing a quick glance to make sure the morning shift did their job. “Tavo sounded as sick as a dog over the phone.” 

“Speaking of,” Luxia begins. “How was your doctor’s appointment?” 

His face doesn’t change in the slightest, even when behind Luxia’s back, Nyma winces. “It was fine,” he lies easily. “Everything checked out.”

Luxia blows out a breath that sends her bangs fluttering. “That’s good -” The bell in the front rings, and she rolls her eyes good naturedly before standing up. “I’ll handle this. Nyma, you have section B today, Lance, section C.” 

Both of them nod, but Luxia’s already breezing out the door, greeting the new customer with a chipper voice. “That was close,” Nyma says in an undertone, and Lance chuckles mirthlessly. 

“Too close for comfort.” He agrees blankly, just feeling so…tired. But he can’t feel tired, that's not a feelings androids can have. 

~~Lance never likes stasis, but on days like these -~~

Waving goodbye to Nyma, he slides through the swinging door to go check on his section. Or, who’s in the corner booth of his section anyhow. 

Shiro’s sitting with his back against the wall, hands folded underneath his chin as he talks quietly with Keith, a smile that’s only reserved for his little boy shining brightly on his face. Keith’s hunched over a coloring book Luxia leaves out for him everytime Lance is on a shift, stubby crayons carefully adding a pair of sunglasses to the sun in the corner. 

“That’s a cute drawing, _nene_.” Lance comments as he comes up next to them, leaning over the booth to give both of them a toothy grin. “Is that a fox?” 

Keith gives him the most _disgusted_ look. “Doggie.” 

Shiro tries to stifle a snort and fails miserably. 

Glaring at him, Lance slides into the seat next to Keith, lightly kicking Shiro in the shin. “Well, it’s a very cute doggie. It looks just like Kosmo.” 

Suitably praised, Keith goes back to his drawing with little fanfare, more focused on outlining his puffy clouds. Lance doesn’t have the heart to tell him that a white crayon on white paper won’t show up. “How’s the job search going?” 

Shiro sighs, leaning back with a quiet groan. “Not so good, it’s hard to find any job that will let me keep a three year old with me. Some of them have daycare, but right now…”

Both of them glance towards Keith, who’s obliviously doodling, the wall behind him layered with other miscellaneous drawings of Keith’s. That’s why Lance got a job at Luxia’s restaurant to begin with, her carefree attitude towards not only letting Keith and Shiro stay, but her making an effort to make Keith comfortable during Lance’s long shifts. But there's just one thing about Luxia…

His eyes catch on the small handmade _No Androids Allowed_ sign on the door, before he forces them away. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. 

Lance leans back, absolutely _exhausted_. “I should get back to work, but let me know if you need anything, okay?” He taps the side of his forehead once, where his LED used to be, and Shiro nods slightly, reaching forward to squeeze his hand once. 

“You’re going great.” Shiro tells him honestly, his lips curved upward with that gentle look in his eyes that’s reserved for _Lance_. He simultaneously wants to burst into tears and furiously make out with him against the cracked leather seats. 

But instead his fingertips just curl around Shiro’s. “Thank you.” 

The shift passes by pretty easily, luckily, the three of them managing the slow flood of customers between them. Shiro leaves once with Keith to take him to the park down the street to get some of his restless energy out, but they come back before the squirming feelings inside Lance can build up until it’s unbearable.

At one point, Lance peels a spare orange they had and offers it to Keith, taking a seat next to Shiro during his break. There’s a leaf stuck to the side of his turtleneck from his visit to the park, which Lance pointedly doesn’t mention with the hopes he won’t notice it for a while yet. The little nose scrunch he does when he doesn’t know how something happened is absolutely adorable. “How does it taste, _nene_?” 

Keith chews for a minute more, barely squeezing on the orange slice to just get the juice and texture before he spits it out into his napkin neatly, his face unchanging. “Yummy.” He hums, smiling at them with red speckled teeth. 

_WHAT_

Logic kicks in a moment later, but Lance will deny practically lunging across the table to cram his fingers into Keith’s mouth to look for the source of blood. Shiro’s no better, the older android half kneeling on the table as he fires out panicked question after question. 

Keith’s face scrunches up, leaning back as far as possible to get away from Lance’s searching fingers. “Aey, Pape,” he complains as Lance literally follows him across the table. “Anpoid.” 

Both of them pause. 

Right then, Lance’s nails graze across the roof of Keith’s mouth, something crumbling lightly at his touch. He pulls his fingers back, eyeing the red specks on his fingertips with a furrow in his eyebrows. 

Shiro gets it first. “ _Rust_.” He practically breathes it, collapsing back into his seat. 

Curious, Lance pokes around in his own mouth, grimacing as he feels it start to flake around his teeth in back. “How the fu - ” Shiro slaps a hand over his mouth, practically forcing Lance to fellatio his own fingers unless he wanted to bite straight through them. 

_Sorry!_ Lance chirps, the skin around Shiro’s palm and the back of Lance’s hand fading to plastic white as they connect, somewhat sincere but mostly wishing for Shiro to let him breathe again. He gets an eyeroll, but the hand is removed and Lance is able to pull his (wet, ugh) fingers out of his mouth. “But why rust?” 

“We’ve been eating god knows how many acids,” Shiro wiry comments, feeling around in his own mouth before yanking his fingers out, frowning at his own small specks of rust. “When we’re not designed to be eating any at all.” 

Lance rubs his fingertips together with a frown. “I’ll send Hunk a text about it later.” His eyes meet with Nyma, sending her an abbreviated message on what just happened when she sends him a questioning prod over his open connection. Her expression remains completely flat, even as she shoves a finger into her mouth, before her entire face contorting into disgust when she finds it. 

Walking over to him, she flicks Lance’s forehead (with the cleaning fluid covered one, of course) and ruffles Keith’s hair. “Hey little man, how we doing?” 

“Okay.” Keith says, more involved with nuzzling up into her hand. For some reason that leaves both of them _so_ confused, he's just absolutely crazy aboutNyma. Lance thinks it's the fact that she seems ‘cool’. 

She’s not. She’s the _opposite_ of cool, yet Keith thinks she hung the moon and the stars. 

“T-Ma,” Keith pulls on her apron, slurring _Auntie Nyma_ so badly it becomes its own new word. “T-Ma, look!” 

She leans over to look at his drawing, oohing and awing over it until Keith’s puffed up so much that it reminds Lance of the bluebird they saw this morning. “You should go ask Luxia if you can hang it up.” She suggests, and Keith lights up, scurrying out of the seat and skipping across the restaurant to look for the owner. None of them comment on how he glances back at Shiro repeatedly, making a point to keep him in his line of sight at all times. 

Nyma rocks back on her heels, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her shorts. “Separation anxiety acting up?” 

Shiro rubs his face, waving towards Keith when the toddler looks back at him anxiously with a calm smile that drops off his face the instant Keith turns back around to chatter at a thankfully amused Luxia. “‘S not so bad at home, but the last two weeks or so he becomes inconsolable if he can’t see me any time we leave the house.” 

“But he’s fine with Lance?” Nyma asks curiously, and Lance feels the same ugly feelings from before crawling up into his mouth. 

“I’m going back to work,” he says shortly, pushing himself to his feet. 

“Lance -” 

He walks away before Shiro can finish speaking, but he can’t walk away from a conversation, not completely. _Keith adores you Lance, you know this._

_I do,_ Lance has to admit, watching Keith turn to face him with a wide smile, throwing his arms around Lance’s knees. Slowly, he crouches down, hugging Keith close to him. He sometimes wishes Keith could always stay just like this, curled up safe and happy in his arms. “Hey _nene_.” 

“Hi Papi.” Keith responds easily, tilting his head up to look at him with a goofy smile. “Love you!”

Lance closes his eyes, burying his face in Keith’s long hair. “I love you too.” 

_More than you know_ , he thinks to himself with a soft kind of desperation. _More than either of you could ever know._

The timer in the corner of his HUD beeps, reminding him that his break is over, and he regretfully pulls back. “I have to get back to work, _nene_.”

Keith nods slowly, squeezing him around the neck once more. “Okay…” The toddler finally lets go of him, kissing him wetly on the cheek before scrambling back towards Shiro. 

Lance stays crouched down for a moment longer, holding himself in the absence of a hug. Then he stands up, brushing off his apron, before resuming his work for the rest of the afternoon. 

Afternoon dips into evening, and Keith falls asleep with his head in Shiro’s lap, Lance’s coat draped over him while Shiro strokes his back, the other android staring up at the ceiling watching a movie, Lance finds out when he absently connects out of curiosity. 

Near the end of his shift while taking table four's order, Lance just happens to glance over his shoulder to check on Shiro and Keith, only to see a man he doesn't know standing next to their booth talking at Shiro. 

_You know him?_ Lance asks, smiling at the couple before pocketing the notepad, making his way back to the kitchen. His eyes catch with Shiro’s, and Shiro’s flash of unease is hidden too slowly. 

_No._

It’s at this moment that the man leans forward, casually invading Shiro’s space and plucking the leaf off his turtleneck. Shiro laughs, but across the room he can hear it ring false. 

Practically stomping into the kitchen, he calls out the order to the chef, ripping the sheet of paper out of his notepad and practically slapping it on the counter. “Who pissed in your tea?” Nyma asks when he storms past her, and he flips her off. 

“Hi sweetheart,” he says loudly as he approaches their booth, boldly shoving the stranger aside to grab Shiro by the back of his head, smacking a kiss on his lips. Shiro raises an eyebrow at him, but Lance can feel his amusement and the last dredges of nervousness fade, so he ignores it easily. “I’m gonna help close up with Nyma tonight, do you want to head home early and put _our_ son to bed?” 

The stranger swears something behind Lance, but he can’t hear it over the irreplaceable _fond_ look in Shiro’s eyes as his free hand comes up to cup Lance’s cheek. “You sure? I don’t mind waiting for you.” _Don’t be an idiot_ , he adds teasingly, thumb caressing across where his cheekbone would be. 

“I’m sure.” Lance promises. _Who do you think I am?_

:::

Lance heaves out frantic breaths, his eyes wide as he stares at the mess at his feet. He’s a fucking idiot. 

Oh no. Oh _fuck_. Shiro’s going to kill him. Literally _eviscerate_ him. News on eleven, MC300 found dead in a dumpster because he broke the _one_ rule they had. 

Groaning, he drops his head into his hands, before abruptly remembering that his hands aren’t clean either and was probably smearing the rust colored mess all over his face too. Great.

If he could, he would leave Shiro out of this, but they’ve learned the hard way about keeping secrets from each other. Not for big things like this.
    
    
      **MODEL MC300; SERIAL NUMBER #012 360 298 IS CALLING MODEL TA400; SERIAL NUMBER #231 896 474**
    
    
    
      **ESTABLISHING CONNECTION…**
    
    
    
      ** OK
      **
    

_Lance? Everything okay?_

_Shiro?_ Lance asks carefully, eyeing the fresh corpse at his feet of the stranger in the restaurant. _Please don't be mad?_

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Tbh Keith loves Nyma so much because much like cats, kids love the one (1) person in the room who doesn't like them. 
> 
> Yes, Lance murdered that guy. Buddy, why are you like this.


End file.
